Machine for feeding sheet material



Feb. 2 1926.

v E. CRAIG MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Origifial Filed April 25, 920

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I. ED277157" v [mu/and l M7 W Feb. 2 1926. I 1,571,572

,E. CRAIG MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Original Fil pr 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 EUEHZCP- Ida/aid Craig fi z 17M? Feb. 2 1926. 1,571,572

;. CRAIG MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Original Filed April 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Even/T07" v Z'Liwami i W? W236."

Feb. 2 1926. 1,571,572

E. CRAIG momma FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Original File April 23, 1920 s sheemegn et 4 Elli/6w Edward Craig Feb 2 1926. L57L572 E. CRAIIG MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Original Fild Ap 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 fi nior Idward CW Pan s. 2 legs. U T- n STATE nnwann cane; or s'r. :rosnrn, MICHIGAN.

MACHINE res. rnnnnie SHEET "orig nal application filed April 23, 1920,

To all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CnAIG, a citizen of the-United States, and a resident ofSt. Joseph, county of Berrien, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Machines for Feed ing Sheet Material .(division of application No. 376,161), of which the following is a specification;

This invention relates to feeding mechanism" for automatically feeding sheet material, oi' articles made from sheet material,

from a hopper to a folding and fastening mechanism, .or for any other'suitable or desired purpose. I

This is a division of application Serial Number- 376,161 'filed April 23, 1920 for machine for making icecream pails or other receptacles, the Patent O flicehaving requested that all claims. for the feeding mechanism disclosed in saidprior application be presented in a separate application. p

Generally stated,- the object of the invention is to provide a novel and efiicient and improved feeding mechanism which will Caccuratsly feed the sheet-material in the desired manner. Y

. It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general eiiiciency and the-desirability of a feeding mechanism of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the. inven tion consists in matters hereinafter'set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan of a machine for making ice cream pails, such as the one shown in said prior ap lication, having feeding mechanism embodying the principles of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of said machine.

Figure 3 is a similiar view showing the other side of the machine.

Figure 4' is a view similar to Figure 3 showing certain portionsbroken away and showing the. feed Q-mechanism in vertical section.

Figure" 5 is an enlarged sectional view of thesaid feed mechanism as shown in Figure 4:.

Figure 6 is a similar'view showing said mechanism in a different position.

As thus illustrated, the machine in connection with which the invention is illustrat- Seria111'o. 376,161 Divided and 1921. Serial No. 493,578.

erated by sprocket this application flledAug'ust 19 ed comprises a hopper'l and a and forming and fastemng machine 2, the prevlously mentioned feed mechanism being'em- 'ployed for feeding the blanks-'3 from said opper to said forming machine. in which latter the blanks are folded and .provided with bail shaped handles, so that each blank becomes an ice cream pail or other similar;

receptacle.

Said'fee'd and lower feed rolls, 4 and 5. for receiving the blanks from the bottom of said hop er, and for feedingthese blanks to the eed rolls 6 and 7 disposed in osition to feed the blanks directly into sald forming ma- .chine. The suction nozzle 8. is operative to pull down the lowermost blank at the proper time, thereby to' facilitate the.feeding of the blanks to the rolls 4 and 5,'which latter shift horizontally toward and away from the rolls 6 and 7, as will hereinafter more fully apear. Thus, whenthe rolls 4: and 5 move back toward the hopper, they receive between them the edge portion of the blank which has been pulled down by the nozzle 8,

- and which is thus in-position to be seized by the rollers. Said rollers 4 and 5 and also the rollers 6 and 7 rotate in unison, in the direction desired for the feeding of the blanks or other sheet material. When the rolls 4 and -5 seize a blank, they then not only feed the blank forward by their rotation, but also by their shifting movement toward. the rolls 6 and 7, thus accelerating the feeding motion. The table 9 is carried by the reciprocating slide or frame 10 upon which the rolls 4 and 5 are mounted, and is disposed in position to deliver the blanks from the first set of feed rolls set of rolls. Guards 11 are suitably mounted they are traveling .forward on this inclined tabea The means for op'e'ratin said feedrolls, as well as for operating t e nozzle, are as follows: A sproc etcham 12 is suitably op.- wheel 13. and is supported on idler sprockets 14 and 15 arrangedas shownin the drawings. The upper feed roll 4 has its end provided with a sprocket wheel 16 which enga es the horizontal portion of this sprocket'c ain, and the feed roll 7 has its end provided with a sprocket 17 which also engages said sprocket chain or belt. In

this way the operation of said belt serves to mechanism comprises the upper to the second in position to hold the blanks down while rotate one roll of each pair of feed rolls. rock shaft 18 is' provided with a crank arm.

19 to which is attached the upper end of the rod 20 which is reciprocated upfand down the cam device 21 at the side of the machine. This shaft 18 has ailarm 22 connectthe nozzle 8- is supported by an-arm 28 .mounted on a rock shaft 29, and that the latter has'a'n arm 30 which is'connectedby the rod'31-with the arm 26 previously men- 'tioned, whereby the oscillation .of therock and down in the required manner to pull the is constructed and'operated anysuitabIe shaft by the cam device 21 not only reciprocates the slide. 10, thereby to shift. the ro s 4' and 5 back and forth in the desired manner, but also causes the nozzle 8 to move'up blanks down from the bottom .of'the hopper. Said nozzle is connected by a flexible tube 32 with the exhaust pump 33, which latter 25 or desired manner.

The construction shown and described permitsthe's rocket wheel 16 toshift back and forth on t e horizontal upper portion of the belt 12 without being disengaged therefrom.

Said belt drives the feedrrolls to feed the blanks or the sheet material and at the same time the-rolls 4 and 5 are shifted back andforth' to assist in the feeding action, in the manner explained. -Thevarious parts are 35 so timedin their operations that the nozzle- -8 rises and pulls-down a blank, and while the edge portion of the blank is thus bent down edge ortion of the blank, and then the rolls 4 and 5 move forward while rotating. The front edge rtion of the blank is then seized by re ls Gand 7 and the blank is forced forward into the forming machine.

F or the broader purposes of the invention, it will be understood that the hopper 1 may be of any suitable form or construction and that the blanks themselves'ma'y be of any suitable'or -desired shape. The invention is shown as applied to a machine for making ice cream pails or other receptacles, but it is obvious ,thatthe feed mechanism may be employed in other situations and for other purposes, and may beemployed for feeding sheet material of any suitable or desired character; For the blanks "shown and described, the hop r preferably has a support just above t e roll 4 for the front ends of the blanks. Thus when one is pulled down, the front ends of the other blanks are left fully supported. See Figures 5 and ,6.

While only the upper r ollofthe recipro eating pair of feed rolls is positively driven,.

. it will be seen that the two rolls are geared together at 34, so that the upper roll communicates power to the'lower roll, whereby- 0f the hopper;

the rolls 4 and 5 return and seize this the two rolls are driven in unison. In 'the same way,

it will be seen thatthrough the gearing 35 this lower" roll drives the upper. roll 6, whereby the twov rOllS are driven in unison. With the construction shown and. described,

and while power is communicated from the endless belt 12 to the lower roll 7,

therefore, the endless belt 12 drives all of.

the feed rolls, those which reciprocate toward and away from the means for supplying and delivering the sheet niaterial, ,as well as those which are disposed-in stationary position to-fee'dthe sheet material directly 1nto the forming machine. Thelbelt 12 can-be- 'tightened by means of an ordinary, belt tightener 36, which is controlled by a spring 37, in a manner that will be readllyunderstood.

With further respect to the hop er, which is plainly shown in'Figures 5 an 6 as having a support 34 for the front ends of the blanks, it'will be seen that this results in pulling the front of eachend blank downward throughthe gap 35 between this sup- ,port and the front edge of the bottom 36 lies flat in the horizontal plane, as shown, until the suction nozzle .8 pulls its front end downward from under the other blanks resting on the support 34 andinto position to be grasped by the rolls 4 and. 5 in'the manner previously explained- There is no sagging, theifefore, of the front ends of the blanks while they are in the hopper, and the nozzle 8 always comes backto'find the next blank lying flat in ahorizontal plane in the manner shown, and the pulling down of the front end of this lowermost blank (loes'not disturb the others, and thus the feed mechanism tends to operate with precision and certainty in the successive feeding of the blanks from the hopper to the rolls 6 and 7 which then feed the blank to the pail forming'machine. As previously explained, however, the hopper may be shaped or constructed to hold lanks of any suitable or desired form, depending upon the shape or form of the product to be produced from the blanks.

It will be seen that the means for delivering the sheet material or blanks comprises a hopper having means for supporting 0o Thus the lowermostblank blanks each having a flap at: its forward till till

till

Mantra B and distinct and are each unaffected by'the, operation of the other. There. is also, of course, the stationary feed rolls 6 and 7 for then seizing the blank fed from the reciprocating feed roll mechanism,-all cooperating in an advantageous manner and in the way shown and described to feed blanks of sheet material to any sort of machine for convert.

ing the sheet material-into the desired product. I

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a'machine for making receptacles from sheet material, thecombination. of

, means for supplying the sheet material,and

for supporting the front edge thereof, feed rolls to receive the sheet material from. said means, a movable suction nozzlefor pulling the edge portion of the sheet material downward into position to be engaged by said feed rolls, and guiding and supporting means to receive the sheet from said rolls, together with supporting and operating meanswhereby said nozzle is unafiected by the operation of said rolls, in combination,

with instrumentalities including asprocket' chain for operating said feed rolls, a'second pair of feed rolls also operated by said sprocket chain-the second pair receiving the sheet material from the first pair, and means including a reciprocating member upon which said feed rolls are carriedi or' reciprocating said rolls horizontally, a portion oil said sprocket chain being disposed hon-- zontally to facilitate the reciprocation of the feed rolls.

2. in a machine for making receptacles from sheet material, the combination of means torsupplying the sheet material, and

for supporting the front. edge thereof, teed rolls to receive the sheet material from said means, a movable suction nozzle 'i'or pulling the edge portion of -the sheet material downward into position to be engagedby feed rolls," and guiding and supporting means to receive the sheet from said rolls, together with supporting and operating means whereby said nozzle is unafiected by the operation of said rolls, said suction nozzle being carried on a swinging arm, below the sheet material, a flexible pipe connection extending to said nozzle, a power shaft, and operating connections extending. from said power shaft to said swinging arm, so that said nozzle is moved up and down to successively pull down sections of sheet material" and deliver the same to said teed rolls.

In a machine for making receptacles from sheet material, feeding means comprising a pair of feed rolls for feeding the sheet material, means for reciprocating said rolls horizontally, so that said rolls reciprocate bodily in adil'ection at right angles to the length thereof, in a plane below the sheet material, means unaiiected by said reoipro eating motion to assist in delivering the.

sheet material to saidirolls, means to drive the feeding means without interfering with the reciprocating motion thereof, and means to finally. receive the sheet material.

.4. A structure as specified in claim 3, "in combination with a second pair oi teed rolls to receive the'sheet material from said reciprocating feed'rolls'. 7

.. 5?. In feeding mechanism, the combine-- lion of teedrolls, an-endlessprocket belt,

means fonsupportin'gsaid' belt with a pormtion thereof extending horizontally, means for reciprocating, said rolls .lrorizo'ntally,- andfme'ans enga the horizontally disposed portion of said beltto rotate one of said rolls. Y i

6. A structure as specified in claim 5, in

combination with means for delivering sheet material to said rolls. v s

'7. A structure as specified in claim 5, in combination with a second pair of feed rolls one of which is driven by said sprocket belt, and means for delivering sheet material to the first pairot rolls, the. second pair (it rolls being disposed in position to retiohof rotary feed rolls, means llOl delivering sheet material to said rolls, means for reciprocating said rolls toward and away from said means for delivering the sheet material, so that said delivering means are unaffected by said reciprocating motion, and means for positively rotatingat least one of said rolls without interrupt on during said v reciprocating motion.

, ll. ii-structure as specified in claim 10, said means for rotatin roll comprising an endless sprocket belt having a straight portion,-' and ineans engaging said straight portion and reciprocating back and i'ortli thereon with said rolls to communicate power "from said belt to rotate the roll.

12. la a machine for melting receptacles from sheet material, the combination of means for supplying the sheet material, teed rolls to receive the sheet material from said means, a movable suction nozzle for pulling the edge portion or the sheet materialdownward into position to be engaged by said teed rolls, and guiding and supporting means to rece ve the sheet from said rolls,

in combination with instrunientalities including a sprocket chain for operating said til red

feed'rolls, a second pair: of feed rolls also operated by said sprocket chain, the second pair receiving the sheet material from the first pair,'an d means including a reciproeating member upon Which-said feed rolls are carried for reciprocating said rolls horizontally, a portion of said sprocket chain means for reciprocating said mechanism, de-

vices unaffected by the reciprocating motion for delivering the sheet material to said feed roll mechan1sm,-mcans for operating said dev1ces,"and; mstrumentahties for opcrating said mechanism, said instrumentalities comprising a sprocket chain having a horizontal stretch and means engaging sald horizontal stretch to operate said mechan1sm.-

EDWARD owner. 

